Taiwanese Travelogue
Mistakenly thinking that I was in the vicinity of the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei, I decided to continue on my way on foot.
I still had not had lunch, and – as always seems to happen – there are restaurants everywhere you look, except when you are hungry.
I walked and I walked and I walked some more. Eager to peruse the two sample copies of the newspaper that I had been given, I finally came across an unpretentious little noodle shop on a side street near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.
When I went inside, the very gregarious owner asked if I could speak Mandarin. When I said yes, he was delighted. He then asked if I could read Chinese.
When I said yes, he was even more delighted. “Do you have a Chinese name?” he asked. “Yes, I do,” I replied. “It is Dai Maike – dai as in to wear (a hat), mai as in barley or wheat, and ke as in to overcome (a difficulty).”
“I'm going to give you something very, very special, something that you have never seen before!” the man said.
Coloured Business Cards
He fetched a box full of blank coloured business cards and asked me to pick one. Sitting down, he started to draw bubble like renderings with a felt tip pen.
Slowly an outline of my Chinese name started to take form. It was truly artistic! After handing me the card, and making to promise not the let it get dirty, he asked me what I wanted to eat.
Copyright: Michael Taylor Pictured: the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial in Taipei, Taiwan Photo Courtesy of the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei